Glenn Gould - "Plays His Own Transcriptions of Wagner Orchestral Showpieces" Vinyl, LP, Album, 1973 (Columbia Masterworks)

I don't know what is more fascinating, Glenn Gould making an arrangement of Wagner's music for the piano, or that he mentions Ferrante and Teicher in the interview that comes with the album.  Still, Wagner has always been a favorite of mine, but to a point.  My problem is that I feel that Wagner's music gets lost in the orchestration, and through his iconic ego.   The beautiful melodies that he wrote are superb, yet they get lost in the Wagner world or mix. 

Glenn Gould transcribed the orchestration to piano music, and doing so, brings Wagner back to planet Earth, where us other humans live as well.   Wagner is very much a genius from the 19th century, and Gould is a brilliant contemporary artist.  The two (well, Wagner's music) meet in a recording studio in 1973, and it's hearing these beautiful melodies in a fresh and new way.  I suspect the actual Viking Wagner lunatic will probably hate this album, but for me, it's a masterpiece. 

Gould keeps the romantic feelings intact, but it's on a smaller scale.  Reading his interview that comes with this vinyl disc, it's interesting that he points out that Liszt, a masterful pianist, did transcriptions of Beethoven's orchestrational music.  Besides the aesthetic flavor of doing something, it is also a proper technique in presenting a composer's music to places that couldn't afford a full orchestra.  Gould's purpose is to re-think Wagner, and I think he also wanted to dominate the music, instead of the music dominating him.  

As far as I know, Gould played and recorded Liszt's transcripts of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, but the Wagner piece is the only one that he actually wrote an arrangement for piano.  There are three pieces by Wagner on the album:  "Meistersinger Prelude," Dawn and Siegfried's Rhine Journey from "Götterdämmerung," and on side two "Siegfried Idyll." The Gould pace is slow on "Siegfried Idyll."  It's a thoughtful approach to this music, with pauses, almost if someone is meditating on what is being played, as he works through the piece.  A beautiful method with respect to performing Wagner.